Thursday, September 22, 2011

Emphasis 101 for new voice over talents

One of the primary skills when doing voice over is knowing which words in a script to emphasize. (Or not emphasize).Of course, you'll have many choices. If you're being directed while in the booth, the director/producer may tell you exactly which words to emphasize.

Let's take this very simple sentence and see what the variables are for emphasis.

"Did you walk the dog today?"

If you emphasize the word "you" that would imply you're asking whether a said individual walked the dog as opposed to some other individual.

If you emphasize the word "dog" that would imply you're asking whether a particular person walked the dog as opposed to some other animal.

If you emphasize the word "today" that would imply you're asking whether the dog was walked today as opposed to yesterday.

So, as you can see, a sentence meaning can be drastically changed with emphasis. Knowing which words to emphasize before even turning to the microphone is key.

There are many ways to emphasize a word when voicing. Many get slightly louder when they come to the key word. But you can also emphasize a word by getting softer, elongating the word ("It was h-o-t today!"), taking a very brief pause just before you say the word, and changing up your pitch as you say the word. Again, it's all about choices. Using a mixed bag can make the read much more interesting.

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My client list

Folks sometimes ask me who I've voiced for. It's an interesting business. Some people only have need for an occasional voice over, say for their website landing page. Other clients have been with me for years. Here's just a partial list:

About Me

I'm a San Francisco Bay Area voice talent specializing in corporate and commercial reads. Much of what I voice gets turned around the same day I receive the script from the producer. I've voiced for major corporations like Microsoft right down to the Mom and Pop video business. My private, project studio
sits on a very quiet creek setting and is the ideal location to voice from.
I thoroughly enjoy what I do and have had the opportunity to work with some very talented folks.
Nothing delights me more than when a producer hears the voice over I've delivered and says, "Nice job. Exactly what I was looking for."

I was hired to voice four episodes of "Animal ER Houston." The shows are without professional actors and unscripted. So, there's a wonderful sense of spontaneity in the episodes.
From a voicing stand point, I did not see the videos that my voice would be matched to before recording, so all my cues came strictly from the copy, and from some brief direction from the producer beforehand.
You can watch the episodes here, but be warned, if you're an animal lover like I am, you might be reaching for the Kleenex.
The episodes open with a brief spot for the Houston Zoo voiced by a young female, and then me.

Merriam-Webster's take on "Voiceover"

Main Entry: voice–over
Pronunciation: \ˈvȯis-ˌō-vər\
Function: noun
Date: circa 1947
1 a : the voice of an unseen narrator speaking (as in a motion picture or television commercial) b : the voice of a visible character (as in a motion picture) expressing unspoken thoughts2 : a recording of a voice-over